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Population & Reproductive Rights

Reproductive rights are the cornerstone of women’s health and independence. These include the right to voluntary marriage; the right to determine the timing, number and spacing of children; and freedom from sexual violence and coercion. Women in the U.S. and around the world encounter numerous obstacles to making fully informed reproductive choices, including lack of information and access to comprehensive services, prohibitive costs, cultural and societal taboos and customs, and poorly trained or ideologically compromised healthcare providers. Many of our member centers are conducting research, disseminating information and raising awareness about women’s health and health policy issues.

This paper explores the consequences of the recent dramatic fertility decline in China by examining the effects of sibship size and composition on inequality in socioeconomic achievement between men and women. Drawing primarily from the China General Social Survey, the authors' findings suggest that women from families with more siblings are more disadvantaged both in terms of their schooling and their job status.

Xiaogang Wu, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Hua Ye, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology2011

In the wake of the federal government’s decision to overrule the FDA’s request to expand access to over-the-counter emergency contraception to women under the age of 17, a new report shows that even some women 17 and older are unable to obtain the morning after pill when they need it.

In the wake of the federal government’s decision to overrule the FDA’s request to expand access to over-the-counter emergency contraception to women under the age of 17, a new report shows that even some women 17 and older are unable to obtain the morning after pill when they need it.

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that about 20 percent of 17-year-olds who called in to a pharmacy to ask for emergency contraception that day were unable to receive it. Seventeen-year-old women legally have access to the morning after pill, also known as Plan B, without a prescription. The decision would have removed a prescription requirement for any woman seeking emergency contraception.

Men are equally likely to be victims of intimate partner aggression and are far more likely to have experienced coercive control at the hands of their girlfriends and wives. But SAVE, a victim advocacy group, is charging widespread media bias in its coverage of a recent Centers for Disease Control report.

FBI Director Rober Mueller told a Senate panel Wednesday that the FBI National Crime Information Center Advisory Board recommended to update the current Uniform Crime Report definition of rape that many say is too narrow. He also said his "expectation is it will go into effect sometime this spring." Currently, the FBI defines rape as "the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will."

"This is a very positive development," says Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation. "I'm excited to hear that the next steps are being taken toward a new definition, and I'm looking forward to hearing the details. We believe that updating and broadening this archaic definition to count the vast majority of rapes will result in more resources to curb what has been an intolerable level of violence, especially against women."

The new definition, adopted by various committees of the FBI, no longer includes the requirement that the victim must be a woman and takes out the the word "forcible." The new definition says that "rape is penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim." ...

Younger women, blacks and women with a high number of recent life disruptions are more likely than their counterparts to get second-trimester abortions, a new study from the Guttmacher Institute finds.

The research focuses on a relatively small group of American women, those who end pregnancies after the first trimester, which lasts 12 weeks. As of 2006, 88 percent of abortions occurred before the end of the first trimester, making second-trimester abortions relatively rare. These later abortions, however, are more expensive, more difficult to come by, and carry more medical risk than earlier procedures, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research organization.

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To get more comprehensive information, Guttmacher Institute researchers surveyed 9,493 abortion patients at 95 hospitals and clinics across the country in 2008, weighting the data to create a nationally representative sample of abortion patients. They queried the women on demographic factors like race, poverty, education and marital status, as well as asking them about domestic violence, health insurance, and recent disruptive life events, including unemployment, serious medical problems and death or illness among friends and family.

They then focused on women who had abortions after 13 weeks. Within that group, they compared women who had 13-to-15-week abortions with those who had abortions after 16 weeks.

"We kept seeing all these discussions of second-trimester abortions and attempts to limit abortions by trimester," Guttmacher senior research associate Rachel Jones told LiveScience. "It dawned on us that we didn't know anything about this population."

Report gathered by this paper says over 2,000 cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) have occurred nation-wide during the period January to October 2011. The report, which was compiled by the Ministry of Gender and Development, is released at a time the nation is joining other countries around the world to celebrate 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, which runs from November 25, 2011 through December 10, 2011. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates, November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights.

The health secretary for the first time overruled government scientists, refusing to make the morning--after pill available to users of all ages without a prescription. In the days that followed, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended revised labels on the best-selling class of birth control pills, as well as for a contraceptive patch, to better convey their higher risk of blood clots. Some women's advocacy groups worried the negative attention on the blood clot risk of a new generation of pills that contain drospirenone would create concerns about birth control in general.

A ruling last week on the morning-after pill, as well as government recommendations on new forms of birth control, could have long-lasting effects on women's perceptions of its safety, health experts say.

Last Wednesday, the health secretary for the first time overruled government scientists, refusing to make the morning--after pill available to users of all ages without a prescription.

In the days that followed, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended revised labels on the best-selling class of birth control pills, as well as for a contraceptive patch, to better convey their higher risk of blood clots.

Some women's advocacy groups worried the negative attention on the blood clot risk of a new generation of pills that contain drospirenone -- including Bayer AG's popular Yaz and Yasmin -- would create concerns about birth control in general.

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"If you've seen on TV somebody crying that their daughter died taking birth control pills, and you're a mom, you may not remember the (particular) birth control pill," said Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families. "You'll just say you can't be on it to your daughter."

Nationally, more than 300 women were surveyed in the study, and the organization hopes to survey a total of 700 women by March 2012. The group will announce its full findings at that time.

According to Farah Tanis, co-Founder of the New York-based organization and co-author of the study, domestic and sexual abuse in the Black community often goes ignored, and the problem is only getting worse.

But while some insist that the rules, which spring from last year's health law, break new ground, many states as well as federal civil rights law already require most religious employers to cover prescription contraceptives if they provide coverage of other prescription drugs.

While some religious employers take advantage of loopholes or religious exemptions, the fact remains that dozens of Catholic hospitals and universities currently offer contraceptive coverage as part of their health insurance packages.

Kevin Harshaw, marketing director of U.S. personal care at Reckitt Benckiser, a global consumer goods company that includes condom maker Durex, said the survey examined the sexual attitudes and behaviors of more than 29,000 people in 36 different countries.

The study indicates 60 percent of U.S. men and women didn't use any form of protection against HIV/AIDS or sexually transmitted infections when they lost their virginity versus 49 percent in Mexico and 47 percent in Columbia.